Tech Mentat

In the spirit Grand Rounds (a weekly rotating carnival of the best of the medical blogosphere), daily/weekly search marketing round ups and the Ground Round (a cheesy restaurant chain primarily located on the East Coast where townies go to watch “the game”), I am proud to announce the launch of my weekly Ground Round Up.

The Ground Round Up is designed to be a weekly post to allow me to give thanks to those who have linked/mentioned my blog, notice those individuals who have helped in my learning of search marketing, and any post that I found interesting/unique over the past week. In the same way the nation voted they would rather have a beer with George Bush rather than John Kerry, the idea of The Ground Round Up is to give “votes” to those people and posts which, in theory, I would like to have a beer.

Chris Hooley: I’ve got to knock this guy off my list right away. Not only is he from my hometown Boston (actually, I hail from Chelmsford) but his posts are extremely entertaining and you can tell from his tone that he is no joke. Plus, his blog led me to Snoop Bloggy Blawg’s Fubing post – which might be one of the best ideas the workplace could hope to adopt.

Lee Odden: I got to meet Lee briefly at SES San Jose 2006 and have been reading his blog for years – great posts with a lot of insight. Recently Lee added my blog to his search marketing list (a big thank you goes out) and Lee also consults for Healthline’s sister company AllBusiness.

Andy Beal: Andy has been a favorite of mine for years. Back when I was the lead programmer and web marketer over at Radiator Express, I followed Andy’s posts back at Keyword Ranking and when he started Fortune Interactive, I was lucky enough to have Radiators.com be one of his first clients. Andy, in my opinion, is one of the most poignant voices out there; he pulls no punches. Over the past week Andy and Zawodny went head-to-head (which I posted about) – for those who aren’t caught up, it’s a good series of threads to read.

Rae Hoffman: There are two things that you need to know about Rae Hoffman and they are the two things that have recently caused me to become a huge fan.

1) Rae is good friends with Ethan Hayes (my co-worker and friend)

2) Rae’s posts, site design and general vibe have caused my wife (a teacher who graduated with an English Degree and is getting her Masters in Instructional Design) to suddenly want to learn all about web/search marketing. I have been trying for years to even have her listen to me at dinner and somehow Rae has converted her overnight.

So there it is folks! The first Ground Round Up – here’s to looking forward to all future Ground Round Up’s. And it goes without saying – if any of you are in San Francisco, consider the first drink on me.

Cheers!